This invention relates to a preparation for promoting hair growth containing, as an effective ingredient, a material showing remarkable effects of promoting hair growth and curing alopecia such as male alopecia or alopecia areata.
Many preparations for promoting hair growth have conventionally been used for prophylaxis or treatment of baldness and thinning of hair.
Ingredients contained in a preparation for promoting hair growth are generally intended to improve the circulation of the blood in scalp, attain cleaning, anti-inflammation and sterilization of scalp, activate enzymes of cells constituting hair follicles and surrounding tissue, improve energy metabolism of hair-matrix cells and depress the action of male sex hormone in scalp. For example, carpronium chloride, vitamin E, an extract of Capsieum annuum L., an extract of Japanese chirata and a garlic extract have been intended to increase the amount of blood stream in hair follicles based on their vasodilative action on peripheral blood vessel, thereby to activate hair-matrix cells. Since alopecia is known to be induced by inflammation, anti-inflammatory agents such as glycyrrhizin and allantoin and germicides such as hinokitiol and resorcin have been used for preventing inflammation or production of decomposition products which might be produced by bacteria from scurf or sebum and which can induce inflammation. Vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin B group, biotin and pantothenic acid derivatives have been used for activating enzymes of hair-matrix cells to promote synthesis of hair, pentadecanoic acid glyceride has been used for improving energy metabolism of hair-matrix cells, and female sex hormones such as estradiol and ethynylestradiol have been used for depressing the action of male sex hormone which is believed to be the primary cause of male alopecia.
However, all of these conventional ingredients contained in a preparation for promoting hair growth have failed to give a satisfactory result, though they exhibit a hair growth-promoting effect or an alopecia-preventing effect to some extent. In particular, they fail to exhibit an enough effect of promoting hair growth and curing alopecia.
With the above-described situation in mind, the inventors have made intensive investigations and, as a result, have found ingredients exhibiting a remarkable effect of promoting hair growth, thus having completed the invention.